DIVERSE CONTENT SHINES

espite widespread uncertainty caused by costcutting at Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, the ever-adaptable children’s entertainment biz soldiered on through a difficult year, delivering heaps of high-quality work across the broadcasting, production, distribution, licensing and digital media sectors.

For the 2022 Hot50 ranking, streamer Disney+ claimed its first-ever broadcasting title, bumping rival Netflix out of the number-one spot in the category for the first time since the Hot50 launched nine years ago.

Instrumental to the global success of Disney+ is its growing portfolio of uplifting, inclusive content for kids and families, which expanded further with greenlights for projects such as Out of My Mind, an upcoming movie spotlighting disability awareness based on the best-selling novel by children’s author Sharon Draper.

The streamer’s other accomplishments included 14 Primetime Emmy wins and better-than-expected worldwide subscriber growth in every quarter of the fiscal year, bringing its total subscriber base to 164.2 million. Streamers, in fact, were more prevalent than ever in the upper rankings of the broadcasting category for 2022, with AppleTV+, Netflix and YouTube Kids placing third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Elsewhere in the Hot50 landscape, industry voters doubled 9 Story’s pleasure by ranking it number one in both production and distribution. This was the company’s second consecutive production win, earned on the strength of key DEI achievements including hiring Farrell Hall as its first-ever chief inclusion officer and signing a new partnership with BBC Children’s to adapt Elle McNicoll’s inclusion-themed book A Kind of Spark into a live-action TV series.

The company’s year in distribution was no less outstanding, with 45% growth for its AVOD/FAST channel business, which to date has sold more than 8,600 half hours across Pluto, Tubi and Roku.

In licensing, WildBrain dethroned LEGO from the top spot, thanks in large part to its iconic Peanuts brand, which generated more than US$2.5 billion in global annual product sales in 2021.

Rounding out the categories, Sesame Workshop jumped seven spots on the digital media list to unseat previous winner PBS KIDS. The Workshop’s achievements this year included the launch of Learn with Sesame Street, a new app developed in partnership with edtech company BEGiN that helps children explore their emotions while learning foundational early literacy, math and critical thinking skills.

Congratulations to all of the 2022 number-ones, to Hot50 first-timers such as Pipeline Studios, Headspinner Productions and LEGO Creative Play Lab, and to the rest of the finalists. Keep the momentum going in 2023!—Jeremy Dickson